Piercing Guns
by Synthetic Audio
Summary: As Berwald goes to pick his partner up from a fight with a jewllery store manager, he thinks about the things that have brought him here in the first place.


A/N: Thank you for all the encouragement! This is in the piercing AU, just like most of my other one-shots. I was also kind of too lazy to write more about the ins-and-outs of their relationship once they started dating. Assume it was all very boring and vanilla. Enjoy!

**Guns**

If you asked Berwald how he usually spent his lunch hour, he'd usually mumble something about having a walk and getting some fresh air. That was true; he did that some days. Other days, however, were spent visiting a local jewellery shop aimed at kids. He didn't go there to buy anything- more, he had to go there to pick something up. Well, someone. That someone being his co-worker and husband. He was also the head piercer at Heaven-Hell, and took his work very seriously. So seriously that he'd taken to harassing local hairdressers and jewellery shops about piercing with piercing guns as opposed to needles. Tino didn't look threatening- short, blonde, a cheerful face and large eyes weren't exactly intimidating- but he was full of surprises. Berwald was still amazed at his temper, and just how furious he could get over things.

When he had first met the Finn, he looked a lot more "clean-cut"... well, until you looked closer and saw a flipped-up circular barbell in his septum, clear plastic retainers on each side of his bottom lip and a curved silver barbell through his eyebrow, cleverly hidden under a fringe. When he had held out one hand to greet the new student, violet eyes had flickered straight to Berwald's crown tattoo, then to his wrist were more of his ink was visible. The boy was fine until he stared up at the Swede. Berwald guessed he must have been scowling in concentration, as Tino slunk away from his grasp and started chatting in rapid-fire Finnish. After showing him around the school, Berwald didn't see the other student for the rest of the week. Part of him wondered if he was being avoided.

The second time he met Tino, the boy looked very different. His face and ears were decorated with metal, his neatly-combed hair had been messed up and his school uniform had been replaced with torn jeans and a t-shirt simply bearing the word "FUCK" in jagged letters. He was also almost throwing himself over the bar, asking loudly for water. He was quite clearly drunk, considering he was having to use the bar top to keep himself steady. Berwald turned back to his drink and his Danish friend, wondering why the other man started laughing so hard suddenly. Turning around, he found out that Tino had slid himself along the bar and was staring at the confused Swede.

"YOU," he pointed, focusing on Berwald, "are one scaaaaary bastard."

He promptly threw up all over the scary bastard's shoes, before sliding down onto the floor and trying to fall asleep. That night, Berwald made sure the boy was sent home in a taxi, after a glass of water and getting his address out of him.

After the puking incident, they spent more time together at school. It wasn't actually brought up (no pun intended), but it kind of sealed their friendship. Tino came in with yet another new piece of metal somewhere in his body every so often, and Berwald showed him designs he'd been working on. Tino wanted to be a piercer and Berwald wanted to be a tattooist, but the latter assumed it was only one of those teenage dreams they'd have to grow out of. He'd had a shock when his friend phoned up to tell him he'd been taken on by a local shop as an apprentice piercer, and wasn't coming back to school. The Swede had tried to convince him that sixteen was too young to leave, but his worries and anxiety were laughed off by an excited Finn. Six months later, Tino was the one in for a giant shock. Berwald walked into the same studio and politely asked if any of the artists would be willing to take on an apprentice, especially one who was only seventeen. By sheer luck, one of the men at the desk had agreed on the spot. That was the first night Tino and Berwald kissed; a good luck peck that turned into something deeper.

Their marriage (technically a civil partnership) had been a small one. The entire party consisted of Tino, Berwald, four friends and Berwald's cousins. The ceremony was in the registry office, the celebration was in a restaurant and afterwards everybody ended up partying at the newlyweds house. The two of them didn't even have wedding rings; the day before they left on a honeymoon- to Amsterdam, which was apparently another unconventional thing- they had bands tattooed around their wedding fingers. You couldn't loose these, unlike a ring.

Quickening his pace, he made his way through the crowded shopping centre. Saturday was a bad day to be away from the shop- the shop _they_ owned. Not that Berwald didn't trust Ludwig, and the visiting tattoo artist from the Netherlands seemed like a good guy, but it was the busiest day of the week. They needed their head piercer there, not being charged with assault at the local police station. As he approached the store, he could hear a familiar voice.

"You pierce with guns. I just saw you pierce a kids ear with a piercing gun." Tino looked thoroughly unamused.

"I totally know what I'm doing, okay! I did a training course that lasted three hours!" the manager snapped back, stamping one kitten heel on the ground.

"Three hours. Three. Hours. I WA S AN APPRENTICE FOR TWO YEARS BEFORE-" Tino shouted.

Berwald thought this was probably the best point to stand in, lest Tino's temper get the better of him. Hopefully this would be an easy one.

It had ended better than usual. After a quick apology to Feliks ("Like, whatever Berry, he'll be back in here in like two days"), he dragged his husband out of the shop. Trying his best to silence Tino, he agreed quickly to letting the Finn pierce his bridge and try out piercing needles, as opposed to cannula needles. If things kept going like this, Berwald thought to himself, his body was going to be more metal than ink. It kept Tino happy though, and that meant so much more.


End file.
